Sault Ste. Marie got locks

Spent the morning at a car show in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, lots of variety from very old to brand new. One of my favorites was a 1929 tow truck.

In the afternoon we head out to check out the Canal Street Locks.  Shortly after we arrive, we get to watch a tour boat make its way from Lake Superior to Lake Huron, a drop of some 21 feet.  It took far less time than I thought it would, unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic with my phone.

The Canadian locks are used for recreational boats, while the American ones are used for commercial traffic. From where the locks are, you can see the cars streaming into Canada from the US on the International bridge - a very large and long bridge linking our two countries.

Across the locks are two islands with hiking/biking paths through forest and wetlands.  As we walk through we see frogs, fish, herons, ducks, geese and numerous birds. There are also fishermen out in their waders fishing for trout, salmon, walleye, pickerel, and whitefish.

Nearby, Parks Canada is hosting a picnic with live music, food, and kids' games.

We stroll around a bit and soon come across a restored old brick building with a wedding party just arriving.  Right behind it is an abandoned building - a very stark difference between the two.

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Saute St. Marie doesn't sound at all like it looks.

Spent yesterday hanging out at Terrace Bay Beach. Watched a charter boat load up 2 canoes,1 kayak,4 gentlemen from Wisconsin, a Jack Russell and a whole lot of gear to carry them out to one of the islands to camp and paddle about. Watched numerous other boats come and go - it's a busy boat launch.






Before relocating to the other end of the bay we watched a gull fishing at the mouth of the river - something I've never seen them do at home. The gull would circle always in the same direction, hover for a few seconds over the same then dive into the water with hardly a splash. Never did see if it caught anything but it did this for quite a long time.

After a long bike ride,  I did a couple of flights with my quad up and down the beach.

On through the boreal forest, we are now seeing sugar maples - we are now in the land of maple syrup. Lots of mining sites for silver, gold, and copper.

We next stop in White River where Winnie the Pooh originated. It's an interesting story that I was unaware of.

Next stop was at Wawa to check out the giant goose. Note that the goose even includes a stream of crap behind the legs (? is this what the artist wanted included...).

The final stop of the day was definitely the best, the pictographs at Agawa Bay. A steep 500m walk thru the woods, then a treacherous tiptoe along the narrow slanted ledge into Lake Superior. Luckily the lake is calm or we wouldn't have been able to attempt it, but the view was worth it!!

Note the ropes to grab onto in case you slip!  Not sure how you would haul someone back up though...

Arrived at our favorite location just after 7 p.m., a long day but a good one.

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Ebike Conversion

I've been interested in e-bikes for awhile now and finally took the plunge and converted my bike with a Bafang kit. The results turned out far better than I had expected.

The conversion kit was ordered from a store on AliExpress. It's a Bafang BBS 02 750 watt mid drive unit as well as an installation tool and hydraulic brake adapters.I also purchased a 13S 4P 48V battery to drive it all.

Installation of the kit is fairly straightforward.

The first step is the removal of the pedals, for this I used a Park Tool CCP-22 Crank Puller, to remove the bottom bracket cartridge I needed to purchase a Park Tool BBT-22 for my setup.





Slide the Bafang unit into the BB it's a tight fit and required a little sanding but it fits. I had to modify the retaining bracket, enlarging the holes and removing some material to get a nice fit. Using the tool I purchased with my kit I tightened it all down ensuring the tabs faced inwards.


Then I  removed the derailer and installed the drive sprocket chain and pedals.

Next, I removed the grips and left shifter. Installed the ON/OFF switch, control display, and throttle on the bars.


Routed all the wires using lots of zap straps and mounted the battery. Job done!!!

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